Birds enliven our gardens with color and song. They are a perfect complement to the sensory feast of blooming flowers, lush foliage and productive garden crops. Here is a brief roundup of some of our more familiar garden birds and how to attract them.
American goldfinch
That flash of yellow in your backyard can only be an American goldfinch. These small, seed-eaters are bright yellow, with black wings and a black cap on top of the head. They are especially fond of niger seed — also called thistle — offered in a small-mesh feeder. Don’t deadhead your regular garden flowers, and in late summer the goldfinches will gorge on the seeds, tipping upside down to pluck them from the dried-up blooms.
House finch
In spring and summer house finches fill our gardens with a wonderful, fluting melody. The male can sing his bubbling, variable song for hours. You can’t miss his bright red throat and brow, and the female is likely to rear her young in a nest set under the eave of your house. House finches love black oil sunflower and will also sit on hummingbird feeders that have a perch to drink the sugar water.
Downy woodpecker
A staccato drumming and a chattering call that goes downward in pitch are evidence of a downy woodpecker in your garden. These small, sprightly woodpeckers are black and white with a patch on the nape of the neck that is red on the males and black on the females. They love suet-cakes of rendered animal fat that substitutes for the insects that are their natural food and will come to them throughout the year.
Black-capped chickadee
Familiar as “the bird that says its name,” the chickadee calls “tsik-a-dee- dee,” and the male sings a two-toned, high-to-low “fee bee” song in spring and summer. He might duet with you if you whistle back to him. Black oil sunflower is a surefire way to attract them.
Broad-tailed hummingbird
In the foothills and higher elevations of the metro area, the high-pitched whistle of the male broad-tailed hummingbird is familiar music in gardens and yards throughout summer. The sight of one of these tiny, emerald birds hovering magically at a flower is a true delight. Hummingbirds come readily to nectar feeders offering one part sugar to four parts water.
Mary Taylor Young (marytayloryoung ) is author of 11 books on Western nature and wildlife, including “The Guide to Colorado Birds.”
